13. Kurome's Past

Kurome's eyes flicked open expecting to be sat back on the crow's nest, but instead, he found himself stood within the golden corridor of the home which once belonged to the royal family of Avalon, a kingdom found north on Sunrise Island. He closed his eyes and opened them again, trying to make his way back to the deck of the Leo, but still, he found himself trapped in his own head, reliving past memories as he tried to repair his broken mind. It had been a gruelling task, trying to sort out his memories into the right order having to relive every single one again, some were nice and filled with love, while others were heart-breaking, and some were long forgotten memories he wished he had never seen again.

He opened his black eyes again but still he found himself stood within the palace walls of Avalon. He was once the captain of the King's Guard, his duty was to protect the royal family. Kurome marched along the curving gold corridor in the direction of the King's throne room, his hand placed onto the hilt of his black katana attached to his hip. He wore all black, including his leather plated armour and helmet which was held under his arm. He had been summoned and was told it was of the utmost importance.

A woman of the same age appeared next to him in a cloud of blue mist and started to march alongside him. Just like he wore all black, her leather armour was all blue including her shield. But instead of a katana, she owned a blue cutlass. Her long turquoise-blue hair was scrapped back into a very high ponytail, which swayed around her and had a pair of sparkling blue eyes.

"Blue Tail," Kurome greeted his second in command with an assertive nod.

"Black Eyes." She smiled knowingly to herself.

Avalonians had unusual names compared to other nations throughout the world but it was their culture to be named after the colour of their mystic power, followed by an object, a feeling, an expression, a characteristic or a sentient being.

"Have you been summoned by the King?" he asked Blue Tail.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm on my way to find Green Hammer, have you seen him?" She continued to smile to herself.

"The last I saw him, he was in his workshop working on his latest invention." Kurome shrugged. "But if you do see him, tell him to keep a heads up, we may be asked out on a recon mission for..." Kurome halted to a stop and stared at Blue Tail suspiciously with his piercing black eyes. "Why are you smiling?"

She couldn't help but grin, her cheeks flushing red and she lifted her ring finger up to show off a platinum ring encrusted with a white diamond. "Red Angel asked me to marry him!"

"My compliments," Kurome congratulated her with a stiff nod, he wasn't one for smiling or hugging or showing any signs of affection towards others publicly.

Blue Tail rolled her eyes from his very unenthusiastic reaction, but it was the best she was going to get and instead decided to tease him.

"You know you're quite the catch, girls throughout the kingdom would line up for you. I've noticed they're always batting their eyelashes at you." Blue Tail arched a teasing brow at him. "Have you ever thought about meeting someone, I can hook you up with one of my friends?"

Kurome cornered his eyes down sharply towards her and ignored her teasing comment.

"I thought you were looking for Green Hammer?" He sternly changed the subject of his love life.

"You can't avoid it forever, Black Eyes." Blue Tail skipped off in the other direction. "I will find you the perfect match, someone who will lighten that stiff heart of yours."

Kurome had no witty comment to her words. His mouth held firmly in a straight line. He thought it over and shook his head, he had a duty to his King and country, especially during such a bleak time. The neighbouring Kingdom of Camelot found to the south of Sunrise Island was demanding more compensation as a part of their peace treaty during a war Avalon lost. Thus, resulted in their once rich kingdom into becoming very poor, where famine and poverty were on the rise. The King was even selling off the gold plated to the ancient palace, a monument of their country which was older than the kingdom itself, but the King could no longer raise taxes and take from the people for his past mistakes. Times were sparse and tensions were rising between the two kingdoms, Kurome didn't have time to be looking for love, he had to be by his King's side.

Kurome entered the double arched doors into the throne room and walked up to the king who was stood looking out of the large glass window which overlooked the city. The King was in his mid-forties, he was tall, with long red hair like the main of a lion and unlike other kings he didn't wear expensive robes or silk clothing, he was content in wearing normal everyday clothes like a city merchant would wear, consisting of a leather jerkin, a simple cotton shirt underneath and brown leggings with leather boots.

"Your majesty," Kurome knelt down on one knee. "How can I be of service?"

The King faced his trusted friend, where Kurome was met with a pair of golden eyes. Unlike common spirits whose coloured mist was the same as their hair and eyes, the King was rare in that he was a dual spirit with a primary and a secondary mystic colour, red and gold. Which was why his hair was red and his eyes were golden. The King's eldest daughter was a different case altogether, she was a dual spirit as well, her primary colour was gold but her secondary colour was ever-changing to whatever mood she was in, she had no control over it. For years, the King had his expert professors trying to work out what type of spirit she was but came to no conclusion.

"How many times have I told you, Black Eyes, we're friends, you don't need to bow down to me." The King patted him on the shoulder and helped him back up onto his feet, where Kurome stood with his hands held behind his back. "You need to stop being so uptight all the time."

"With all due respect, your majesty, but my uptightness as you like to call it, has saved your life more than one occasion," Kurome reminded him. "So how can I be of service today?"

"Always straight to point isn't it?" the King sighed, he couldn't complain, Kurome was disciplined and it made him his most skilled warrior. "It's that time of year again when I have to make the long trek to Camelot to handover the annual compensation tax to King Arthur. I need you to help organise security throughout the journey and have Blue Tail guarding my daughters, and Red Angel guarding my wife."

"Don't you think it's dangerous bringing your family along, they hate our kind?" Kurome protested. "I advise not bringing them along, what if one of Arthur's children calls one of your daughters a demon, they will not be able to handle the insult like you and me?"

Before the people of Camelot understood the concept of Spirits and their mystic powers, they used to call them demons because of their ability to possess people. Now the term demon was used to demean and insult them, knowing it offended them. The King's daughters had never been subjected to such terminology, they wouldn't know how to handle it.

"I have no say in the matter, King Arthur has requested I bring my family this time..."

"You've been paying your dues since before I was born!" The King was rudely interrupted by his eldest daughter, today her hair was orange, meaning she was all fired up and angry. "You need to stop paying Camelot for an overpriced compensation tax. Look at our Kingdom, it's falling apart, the people are starving and we have nothing left to give King Arthur."

She was only fifteen but already she was showing leadership and what it took to be a Queen one day. She marched into the throne room, wearing her leather breastplate over a black tunic and black breeches, and held tightly in her hand was a short sword and under her arm, she held her helmet decorated with a purple plume. It looked as though she had returned from training with her personal guard, who was stood behind her, also wearing leather armour.

"Darling, please you don't understand..."

"I understand perfectly, you're a coward who can't stand up to himself and his kingdom. You allow Arthur and his disrespectful children to walk all over you. The second I take the throne I'm ending the tax."  She pointed her sword at her father and immediately Kurome had unsheathed his black blade and pointed it towards her.

"I don't think so." The Princess's bodyguard had her red cutlass against Kurome's throat within seconds; a sinister smile playing on her lips.

"Lilith," Kurome growled, how much he despised her and her cocky attitude, she was the only spirit he knew who didn't have a colour in front of her name, he never knew why?

"Kurome, always the warm welcome." Lilith hissed like a snake into his ear and pressed harder against his neck.

He growled, she always called him by that name and he hated it. He had no idea what it meant, she could be insulting him for all he knew. He disappeared in a puff of black smoke and reappeared seconds later, kicking her from behind and knocking her to the ground. She groaned landing harshly on her wrists and when she sat up to face him, the sharp point of his katana touched her neck.

"You can try misting away like I just did, but will you be faster than me before I slit your throat," he dared her.

Lilith swallowed and her chest rose angrily in defeat. For once her cocky smile was non-existent.

"Enough," the King ordered. "Let Lilith go now!"

Kurome kept his hold for a second longer, intently staring into her red eyes before relaxing and sheathing his sword. "You overuse your dominant hand, you need to learn to fight with your left hand, it's weak. I'm always sparing in the evening if you want a lesson."

"I'm perfectly capable without your help," Lilith huffed her short red hair out from her eyes and stood up, standing next to the Princess.

The King looked sternly back towards his daughter. "As for you, it is more complicated than you think. I can't just stop paying taxes to King Arthur, it was apart of our peace treaty. If we did stop, we would be at war with each other. Which is why this year, I'm going to start renegotiating the peace treaty."

"It won't work!" The Princess scoffed, her fists clenching. "Arthur is stubborn in his ways, enjoying the lifestyle we pay for. Do you honestly think he will renegotiate his top earning wage?"

The King was speechless, knowing she was right.

"Our kingdom is falling to ruins and you're allowing it to happen." The Princess stormed out calling Lilith with her.

The King rested his head in his hands and sighed. "What do you think?" He looked back at Kurome.

"Truthfully, I think your daughter is right. We can't afford to pay any more taxes. But I can't see a way around it without causing a war." Kurome expressed his opinion. "The choice is up to you."

Kurome decided to leave the King to his own thoughts on the matter and hopefully, he would make his mind up and it would be the right choice. For the rest of the day, Kurome talked plans with his guard to map out the safest route to Camelot if the King decided to continue with his original plans. As night fell, he returned to his chambers.

He entered his room and walked towards his dresser, unclasping the buckles on his breastplate when a pair of arms snaked around his torso. Kurome smirked for the first time all day and looked behind his shoulder to find Lilith.

"I'm weak?" She questioned, offended, unclasping the last of the buckles from his armour and slid it off over his head.

"And slow." He faced her, taking her all in, her naked body beautifully toned. "But we can work on that." He averted his gaze back to meet hers.

She scoffed. "You're an asshole and I hate you, Kurome."

He growled, not knowing what that name meant infuriated him. "If you hate me so much, why did you come here?"

Her hands reached down to the hem of his black tunic and slowly raised it over his head.

"Because I enjoy our sparring lessons." She stood on her tiptoes to reach his height and stared into his black eyes and bit down on her lower lip.

"Remember this is casual, I'm not looking for anything more." He stared down at her.

"I know..." For a second her eyes looked sad. "I wouldn't want you falling in love with me now." Her voice went up an octave and she shrugged and wrapped her arms around his neck and innocently fluttered her eyelashes towards him. "By the way, Kurome, it's Nippon for Black Eyes. I think it suits you."

"All this time I thought you were offending me, but you knew that didn't you?"

"I liked getting a rise out of you. You should visit Sapphire Island sometime, you would like it there." Her hands ran through his black hair. "Or... you know... we could go..."

He cut her off before she finished her sentence and captured her lips with a deep kiss and the night's activities continued.

As always, in the morning Lilith was gone and Kurome prepared himself for the day ahead. If he bumped into her during the day, like always they would act like nothing happened in the bedroom and continue to hate on each other, but he didn't see her. Kurome's day went on as normal, training, talking with the King, planning the route to Camelot and being teased by Blue Tail who was giving him a long list of girl's names who he should meet. He wasn't listening to her. Instead, he frowned thinking over what Lilith had said, I don't want you falling in love with me. Why would she say that? Why now did she bring up the L word in conversation. Then she mentioned what the name Kurome meant. She had been calling him that for years, holding it against him and now during the same conversation as the L word she tells him what it means.

They were having fun, no strings attached for over a year. He would have to ask her tonight. But she never came to his room that evening or the next evening or during the rest of the week. It was starting to drive him mad and he didn't understand why? It was like she was avoiding him. Until one day he spotted Lilith training with the Princess. Her red eyes flicked towards Kurome, looking rather guilty. Her distraction of the black spirit gave the Princess an upper hand and she managed to trip Lilith over.

"You're usually better than this, Lilith?" The Princess grabbed her hand and helped her back onto her feet.

"I'm sorry, I'm little distracted." Her red eyes gazed towards Kurome again. "Would you excuse me, Princess."

The Princess nodded and Lilith made her way over to Kurome, grabbing his arm and bringing him over to the weapons stand.

"What are you doing, Black Eyes?" She looked sharp.

Kurome looked taken aback and for once his heart hurt when she didn't call him by his nickname.

"I have done something wrong to offend you, why didn't you come to our sparring lessons?" Kurome looked into her red eyes, which cascaded to the floor with guilt.

"Because I can't do this anymore." She was blunt and to the point.

Kurome was confused. "Why not, we're having fun aren't we?"

"Yes, we were." She smiled to herself. "I've enjoyed every second of our time together."

"Then what's changed?" He searched her for answers.

"You made your feelings clear. You don't want anything more out of us." She looked away, tears glistening from her eyes. "And that's why I can't be with you anymore because I want more out of us."

"What are you saying?" He placed a finger to her cheek and wiped her tears away.

"I've fallen in love with you, Kurome."

His heart slammed against his chest and he couldn't stop staring at her, his mouth parted open about to speak.

"Black Eyes!" Blue Tail interrupted. "The King requests your presence. It's important."

Kurome looked to Blue Tail and back at Lilith Who was waiting for him to say something. "I..."

Lilith shook her head and faced away from him, her heart slowly breaking.

"We really need to go!" Blue Tail tugged on his arm.

"Not now Blue Tail!" Kurome shouted at her. "Tell the King I will be with him in a moment! There is something I need to tell Lilith!"

Blue Tail was confused looking between the pair and over to the Princess who was beckoning the blue spirit to come with her before she ruined anything. Lilith looked back at Kurome, her heart pounding alive and her mouth parted open in anticipation.

"This past week, with you not coming to my room has driven me mad and it's made me realise that I can't be without you. At first, I didn't know what that meant until now." He grinned, his first grin and many more to come. "I love you too."

Lilith ran up to him and dived on top of him, knocking them both to the ground, smiling down at him.

"I love you, Lilith." His hand reached up to cup her cheek and he kissed her.

"Aw!" Both the Princess and Blue Tail squealed and jumped up and down.

"I knew something was going on," Blue Tail cried happily.

"No you didn't!" Red Angel appeared next to his fiancé and draped an arm over her shoulder. "Anyway, break it up you two, the King's getting impatient!"

They unlocked from the kiss, both looking flustered, having expressed their love in front of everyone. Lilith giggled and pecked Kurome on the nose before standing up.

With the others in toe, Kurome was stood in the throne room, where the King was waiting for them. He looked anxious like he was about to vomit and stood next to him was his wife, a purple spirit wearing a long bell sleeved dress.

"I have made my decision and I've decided the best decision for my kingdom is to discontinue paying the taxes. This, as a result, may lead to war with Camelot."

The words that would change the world forever.

Kurome was sucked out from the memory of himself and Lilith to a more dark and painful memory and found himself stood in the corridors of Camelot Castle. His body drenched in blood, his leg broken and impossible to walk on and his sword was grasped tightly in his hand.

"Kurome..." A gentle hand touched down onto his shoulder. "Is that you?"

Kurome limped around, a deep grin flashed across his lips, it had been so long since he had seen her beautiful face, he reached up and touched her soft cheek. He engulfed his wife into a hug, then she disappeared on him and his heart strained

"No! Come back, Lilith!" Kurome wandered through the winding corridors in search of his wife. It had to be an illusion? Someone was playing with his head, she wasn't even in Camelot Castle at the moment.

Still, he decided to fall for the illusion and heard her soft giggle and the glimmer of red rounding the corner. He chased after her, only to skid to a halt, he was now outside in the courtyard. A war was happening, people were falling, crying, dying around him. This was his worst memory of all, the day Camelot fell from Mordred's betrayal. His hand was clutched around his black katana and despite his broken leg, he found himself lost within the battle, fighting against the rebels who sought to put Mordred on the throne. He was knocked to the ground by a powerful force, and looked up to find a tall man wearing a black robe made from the finest of leathers, his hair as black as night and his eyes a sharp venom yellow.

"Mordred!" Kurome growled.

Before he could attack his nemesis, the King sent a spark of dark magic towards Kurome's chest, paralysing him. Mordred shadowed over him and flicked a silver knife out from his pocket and knelt down on to his knees and clutched his hand tightly around Kurome's neck. Silver nullified spirit magic.

"They say you have a special gift when it comes to the dead," Mordred pierced the silver knife below his left eye. "So don't mind me, as I take it for myself."

Kurome flinched, his body screaming in pain as the knife gouged into the socket of his eye, but there was nothing he could do in his frozen state but seethe in anger. His head swarming with thoughts of revenge and the many different ways he would kill Mordred when he got the chance. He screeched when his black eye was finally taken from him.

Kurome breathed in deeply and thrashed around where he sat, sending bursts of black mist around him. He steadied his breathing and calmed down when he realised he was back on the crow's nest of the Leo and reached up to his eye patch. His eye still gone. He looked around him trying to work out how his mind fixed itself so quickly. He felt a strong power bringing him back to light and fixing his mind. The dazed spirit scrambled about on the crow's nest. His throat felt weird and he touched his neck where his silt throat was now healed.

"W-White H-Harmony," he croaked.

He had come to the conclusion that in an attempt to repair his mind, the white spirit had healed his throat and the strong energy, which was extremely familiar to him had healed his mind. He rubbed his head and called for his spirit friends once again but he couldn't sense or feel their presence any longer.

"Oh no!" Kurome panicked and disappeared in a puff of black smoke and landed on the deck next to his master, the leftover resonance of Akatenshi's and Washiro's attacks could be seen scattered across the snow like glitter.

He could only presume, Hiro got to them and manipulated them into breaking bonds with Alex. This wasn't good.

The spirit swallowed as he looked around him, Baden was unconscious on the floor and surrounded by his friends, so it was his powerful energy he could feel which had healed him. He looked for his master and found Alex sat on the railing, staring out into the distance with a long and sad look across his face. He was unresponsive to his friends calling for his help, who were carrying Baden into the medical bay. Kurome sat down next to Alex and watched the sunrise with him, both of them silent but content with each other's company.

"Kurome..." Levi called out to him sometime later. "We're going off to find Mirella and the others, keep an eye on Baden and Alex for me."

Kurome nodded and the others soon left.

"Was Hiro here?" Kurome finally spoke to his master for the first time in a very long time.

Alex shifted his head to look at his last remaining spirit, his sword since he could remember, always by his side and always loyal. He would not make the same mistake with him as he had with Akatenshi and Washiro.

"You can talk?" Alex smiled towards the spirit whose appearance was that of a ten-year-old, he still wondered why all of his spirits' appearance were in the form of children or teenagers. "Why of all the forms you chose, why a ten year old?"

"Yes, I can talk now." Kurome touched his neck. "White Harmony healed my throat when she tried to fix my mind but it was that blast of energy which finally repaired my broken conscience. As for why I'm in the form of a child. Spirits take on the appearance which they deem as most appealing to their master's emotions. You have been feeling down and alone ever since Jessica died, so we chose to be kids so we could be your friends and make you happy again."

"Now I've lost my spirits too and all I have left is you." Tears lined Alex's eyes and his bottom lip trembled. "I shouldn't be so surprised people have a knack for abandoning and leaving me and it all started with my adoptive father disappearing on me. Since then, no one has bothered to stay around longer than a year or they've died. Just you watch, it won't be long before the crew abandon me too." His head fell into his hands. "It's like I'm an unwanted piece of trash being handed from one person to the next. I'm cursed to live alone."

Alex sat up straight staring off into the distance, his face once again long and sad. "But this time, I know it's my fault for Akatenshi's and Washiro's departure."

"No it isn't, it's Hiro's fault for manipulating them..."

"Hiro was nowhere near here!" Alex interrupted his spirit. "I broke my promises to them."

Anger pulsed through Kurome. "I warned you not to make that promise with Washiro but you ignored me, just like you always ignore me!"

Kurome stormed off to the middle of the deck, but unlike Akatenshi and Washiro he kept his black mist under wraps and did not attack Alex with his aura power. He stormed back over to Alex and smacked him on the back of the head, extremely hard it had Alex crying in pain.

"What was that for?" Alex fell back onto the deck rubbing his head.

"For being a moron. Didn't any of the lessons I taught you stick inside that thick skull of yours!" Kurome hit him again! "I told you a very long time ago not to make a promise with a spirit but of course you never listened to me, too busy attempting to open the door to the secret room in the monastery," Kurome sighed. "It's days like this when I miss Sasha." He whacked Alex.

"Stop hitting me!" Alex was cowered over and covering his head. "Geez, it's like you have an iron fist."

"No, I will not stop hitting you!" Kurome smacked him again. "Not until you stop letting your emotions cloud your judgement. This is what made it easy for Hiro to turn us into spirits in the first place from our sword forms, your mind was elsewhere lost in the pit of despair you call your brain. Even when asleep a master should always have a strong connection with their spirits," he spoke the last part in Nippon.

Alex gasped and sucked in a sharp breath as he stared at Kurome in disbelief. "You just said the same thing my..." he couldn't finish the sentence, he was still coming to terms with it.

"I never abandoned you, Alex." Kurome allowed his black mist to spiral around his ten-year-old frame and when the dust settled, stood before Alex was a young man in his twenties wearing a black hooded kimono hiding his face. "I was Sasha Pendragon's roaming spirit instructed to keep an eye on you in the monastery, to teach and train you and when the time was right when you were ready to leave as instructed by Sasha, I was to return to my sword form and be your spirit. I never abandoned you, I've always been by your side and I always will."

Alex was speechless but it made sense why he was never allowed to see the black blade he owned. Because it was stood in front of him, training him.

Next Chapter: 14. Desperate Love

☠️ I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so if anything confused you, go right a head and ask?

☠️ So the events of Kurome's past happened long before a spirit realm existed and a couple of years before Mordred's rebellion.

☠️ Did you like Lilith and Kurome's little love story?

☠️ Don't you hate Mordred for taking his eye out.

☠️ The detail about the compensation tax between the two kingdoms will make a lot more sense in the third book but it's an important detail. Don't forget about it.

☠️Did anyone guess that Kurome was the monk looking after Alex?

See you next Wednesday/Thursday depending where you live in the world.

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~ Robin Xxx